Category: 2022

 11:33,

STEPANAKERT, FEBRUARY 11, ARMENPRESS. On February 11, at around 05:50, shots were fired from the Azerbaijani military positions located near Karmir Shuka and Taghavard communities of Artsakh’s Martuni region in the direction of residential houses, Ombudsman of Artsakh Gegham Stepanyan said in a statement on social media.

“Given the distance between the settlements and the Azerbaijani positions, and the fact that the residential part of the village is directly observed from the Azerbaijani positions, it is undeniable that the Azerbaijani side has directly targeted the houses of the residents as a result of which residential houses, mainly walls, roofs, have been damaged.

The window of a house of Karmir Shuka resident was smashed during the same operations which are aimed at threatening civilians, and the bullet penetrated into the living room of the house”, he said.

“I reaffirm the claim that the criminal acts of Azerbaijan are of regular and systematic nature, aimed at creating an atmosphere of fear in Artsakh.

Azerbaijan will continue its criminal attempts against the people of Artsakh as long as the international community has not condemned unanimously the open Azerbaijani illegal acts against humanity”, he added.

 11:57,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 11, ARMENPRESS. The electric-energy balance in January-December of 2021 compared to 2020’s same period is positive, the Armenian Statistical Committee reported.

Electric-energy production volume in the reporting period totaled 7 billion 674,9 million kWh, which is a 0,6% drop compared to 2020’s same period.

995,2 million kWh of electric-energy was exported, a 25,3% drop compared to 2020.

Imported volume of electric-energy increased 15% and totaled 368,5 million kWh.

Thus, the electric-energy balance of 2021’s January-December totaled 7 billion 048,2 million kWh, a 5% increase against 2020’s same period.

 12:32,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 11, ARMENPRESS. US President Joe Biden has called on all American citizens remaining in Ukraine to leave the country immediately, citing increased threats of Russian military action, BBC reports.

Mr Biden said he would not send troops to rescue Americans if a military clash happens.

He warned that “things could go crazy quickly” in the region.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday that Europe faced its biggest security crisis in decades amid the tensions.

The US State Department urged Americans in Ukraine to leave immediately.

“American citizens should leave now”, Mr Biden told NBC News.

“We’re dealing with one of the largest armies in the world. It’s a very different situation and things could go crazy quickly”.

 12:52,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 11, ARMENPRESS. Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan received today Deputy Secretary of the Russian Security Council Oleg Khramov, who arrived in Yerevan to attend the Armenian-Russian inter-agency consultations on information security, the Office of Armen Grigoryan told Armenpress.

At the beginning of the meeting, Armen Grigoryan highlighted the effectiveness of the ongoing activities of the Armenian-Russian inter-agency consultations. In this context the sides highly valued the level of partnership between the Offices of the Security Councils of Armenia and Russia.

Touching upon the issues of bilateral interest, the officials emphasized the necessity of continuing the cooperation in the field of information security.

The sides also discussed the steps to be taken in the future and the implementation of the inter-agency agreements.

 14:18,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 11, ARMENPRESS. Science funding in Armenia grew 83% in 2022 compared to 2021. In 2021, government funding for science was 13,7 billion drams, but in 2022 it reached 25,1 billion.

“Today, the science sector in Armenia is more attractive than two years ago,” the Deputy Chairman of the Science Committee of Armenia Artur Movsisyan said at a press conference. “Along with funding increase, the number of scientific grant tenders also increased, therefore the participation of scientific groups has become more active. The funding for procurement of equipment used for scientific projects also increased, meaning the opportunities have increased and interest for science grew.”

Further progress will be ensured, however in the long-term perspective the objective is to ensure the kind of environment and development that would make science have its contribution to economic development.

The Science Committee plans to implement a number of themed projects in several directions. Opportunities will be created for Armenian scientists to travel abroad and train in the best scientific organizations.

The next project envisages support to a scientific group formed in Armenia whose team leader will be from abroad. The team leader must put specific scientific objectives before the group, select specialists through a competition, monitor the work and work in Armenia for several months during the year.

The next project is the “repopulation” grant, which envisages work with ethnic Armenian or foreign scientists abroad who want to live and work in Armenia, create scientific groups and laboratories.

“At this moment I find it difficult to say what specific criteria will be used to select the scientists, but I can confirm that the branch of science will be significant. The projects must be aimed at strengthening the directions of science which are either nonexistent or weak in Armenia, for example jurisprudence, political science, economics and others,” he said.

He said the sector has serious staffing problems because over the years the number of scientists dropped. The average age of scientists is high, while the number of young scientists entering the sphere is low. This is why the government is taking measures to involve specialists.

 14:49,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 11, ARMENPRESS. The defense ministry of Azerbaijan spread another disinformation, claiming that on February 11 the units of the Armenian Armed Forces opened fire at the Azerbaijani military positions located in the Karvachar section of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, the Defense Ministry of Armenia said in a statement.

The ministry added that the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border is relatively stable and is under the full control of the Armenian Armed Forces.

 16:39,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 11, ARMENPRESS. The Economist Intelligence Unit, the research and analysis division of the Economist Group, published its Democracy Index 2021, which also has a data on Armenia.

In the report titled “The China Challenge”, Armenia, like in the past several years, is in the “hybrid regime”, however, with democracy index it is the highest among the countries of the region, passing Georgia, Turkey, Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran.

The Democracy Index is based on five categories: electoral process and pluralism, functioning of government, political participation, political culture, and civil liberties.

Based on its scores on a range of indicators within these categories, each country is then classified as one of four types of regime: “full democracy” (8-10 scores), “flawed democracy” (6-8 scores), “hybrid regime” (4-6 scores) or “authoritarian regime” (4 or lower score).

According to The Democracy Index 2021, Armenia improved its index of 2020 by 0.14 points and is currently ranked 89th with 5.49 score. Armenia’s score in 2020 was 5.35 and in 2019 – 5.54.

Among the regional countries, Georgia is the closest one to Armenia, with 5.12 score, and is ranked the 91st. Turkey is ranked 103rd with 4.35 score, Russia is 124th with 3.24 score, Azerbaijan – 141st, 2.68 score, and Iran – 155th, 1.95 score.

The leading countries are Norway (10 score), New Zealand (10 score) and Finland (10 score).

North Korea, Myanmar and Afghanistan have the worst scores in The Democracy Index 2021.

 16:46,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 11, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan held a phone conversation with the Foreign Minister of Greece Nikos Dendias on February 11.

Mirzoyan and Dendias addressed the “rich agenda of the Armenian-Greek relations,” the Armenian foreign ministry said in a readout.

The foreign ministers were pleased to note the dynamics of political dialogue between the two countries.

“The importance of steps aimed at the further strengthening of mutually-beneficial cooperation was emphasized. During the phone conversation views were exchanged on regional issues of mutual interest. Ararat Mirzoyan presented to his colleague the current developments relating to the normalization process without preconditions of the Armenia-Turkey relations,” the Armenian foreign ministry said.

 17:29,

YEREVAN, 11 FEBUARY, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 11 February, USD exchange rate down by 0.10 drams to 478.94 drams. EUR exchange rate down by 2.94 drams to 545.27 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate down by 0.03 drams to 6.38 drams. GBP exchange rate down by 0.86 drams to 649.25 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price up by 110.38 drams to 28261.23 drams. Silver price up by 1.55 drams to 359.63 drams. Platinum price down by 49.51 drams to 15814.03 drams.

 18:53,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 11, ARMENPRESS. A consultation chaired by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan took place, during which the draft strategy in the field of education was discussed, ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the Prime Minister.

Referring to the draft, the officials in charge noted that it presents the vision and goals of the development of education until 2026 and 2030. In particular, the draft strategy addresses the services provided from pre-school to higher education. The document also presents the main targets that the Government will pursue in this area during the above-mentioned period.

Reference was made to the educational content, standards, programs and events envisaged in the field of pre-school, general education, secondary vocational and higher education, as well as infrastructure development, harmonization of universities with international standards and establishment of an academic city.

An exchange of views took place over the draft, a number of observations and suggestions were presented.

Summing up the consultation, the Prime Minister noted that the ideas on resolving the raised issues should be enshrined in the strategy. Nikol Pashinyan instructed to put the draft into circulation, at the same time to amend it, taking into account the presented problems and proposals.